Shell and Exxon punished by Dutch ad authority for fossil fuel claim

The Dutch advertising standards authority has issued Shell and Exxon with a censure for a claim made in a television advert earlier this year.

The television ad stated that natural gas was “the cleanest of all fossil fuels.”

This is the second time in 2017 that Dutch advertising authorities have sought to punish the oil and gas industry with Statoil reprimanded for claiming gas to be “clean energy” and “low emissions fuel” in June.

The Dutch Advertising Code Authority stated that the term “cleanest fossil fuel” was not in line with the MRC (the Dutch advertising code).

Friends of the Earth Europe co-filed the complaint.

Paul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe, said: “This clear ruling by the advertisement standards board is of great importance. Time after time we see how oil and gas companies are misleading citizens and politicians.

“They want us to believe that gas is clean and they support the transition to renewable energy. Behind the screens we see how the same companies lobby against this transition. To prevent catastrophic climate change we need to end the dependency on all fossil fuels – including gas.”